Insider Buying: First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Acquires $107,950.00 in Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE – Get Rating) Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.59 per share, for a total transaction of $107,950.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 37,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,181.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $20.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.87 and a 200-day moving average of $24.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. First Busey Co. has a fifty-two week low of $20.14 and a fifty-two week high of $27.98.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 20th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 19th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.63%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BUSE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 102,760.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,102,710 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $793,579,000 after acquiring an additional 32,071,500 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 1,148.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,258 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,757,000 after purchasing an additional 352,551 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in First Busey by 13.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,818,626 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,084,000 after purchasing an additional 220,093 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in First Busey by 54.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 572,567 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,154,000 after purchasing an additional 202,737 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in First Busey by 4.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,966,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,216,000 after purchasing an additional 117,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BUSE shares. StockNews.com started coverage on First Busey in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. DA Davidson cut their price target on First Busey from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on First Busey from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 30th.

About First Busey

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First Busey Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services through its wholly-owned bank subsidiary. It operates through the following segments: Banking, First Tech, and Wealth Management. The Banking segment offers a range of services to individual and corporate customers through its banking center network.